Concerning Rosh Chodesh Iyar, it says in Chumash in the beginning of פרשת במדבר, וידבר ה' אל משה במדבר סיני, ה' spoke to משה במדבר סיני באהל מועד, the אהל מועד, באחד לחדש השני, the first day of the second month, which means ראש חודש אייר, בשנה השנית לצאתם מארץ מצרים לאמר, the second year of their going out of Mitzrayim saying. What did Hashem' say? שאו את ראש כל עדת בני ישראל למשפחתם לבית אבתם במספר שמות כל זכר לגלגלתם, which means that he commanded Moshe and Aharon that they should count the Bnei Yisrael then. And as Rashi says, מתוך חבתן לפניו, because they are beloved for him, מונה אותם כל שעה, so he counted them every time. כשיוצאו ממצרים מנם, when they went out of Mitzrayim he counted them. כשנפלו בעגל, when they fell after the sin of the עגל, מנם, he counted them, לידע מנין הנותרים, to know how much were left over. וכשבא להשרות שכינתו עליהם, מנם, and when he went to make his Shechinah rest upon them, he also counted them. And that's this time that he counted the Bnei Yisrael the second day of Iyar. This was in connection to the fact that he wanted to have his Shechinah rest upon them, because באחד בניסן הוקם המשכן, because the first day of Nisan, Rosh Chodesh Nisan, that's when the Mishkan was put up, ובאחד באייר מנם, and the first day of Iyar he counted them. So the counting that took place Rosh Chodesh Iyar was in connection to the הקמת המשכן, was in connection to the fact that the Mishkan was just put up Rosh Chodesh Nisan, so that's why he wanted them to be counted on Rosh Chodesh Iyar. But Lichorah, we have to understand, since this counting took place in connection to the הקמת המשכן, to the putting up of the Mishkan, so Lichorah the counting should have taken place באחד בניסן, on the first day of Nisan, in the same day that the Mishkan was put up. Because it makes sense that if it was in connection to the הקמת המשכן, then why wait a month? Why not do it right away? אי, one might ask, that after the חטא העגל, where we say that Hashem' counted them in order to know how much were left over, why did he wait to have them counted till after Yom Kippur? Lichora also it should have been done right away. There there is no question, because Yom Kippur was the day that Hashem' forgave them for the aveirah. As Rashi says in פרשת כי תשא, קפיטל ל', פסוק ט''ז, that then נתרצה המקום לישראל לסלוח להם, that that's when Hashem' was נתרצה to the בני ישראל to forgive them, ונתצוו על המשכן, they were commanded to the Mishkan. So after they were נתרצה, after Hashem' forgave them, right away he told them to be counted. But before that, since he didn't forgive them yet, so he didn't want to count them, especially as we're saying here that the counting is connected to the love Hashem' shows to the בני ישראל, so when did he really show his love? After he forgave them for the aveirah. So right after he forgave them for the aveirah of the egel he told them to be counted. So in this case too, right after they put up the Mishkan, on the same day, they should have been counted. Why wait for a whole month till Rosh Chodesh Iyar? And even if we're going to say that for some reason, on the same day that the Mishkan was put up, there was pashut no time for them to be counted, or we could say more than that, not only there was no time, that's the day that they were involved completely in the inyan of putting up the Mishkan, so there was nothing else that they could be doing in that day, so at least they could have been counted the day after, the day after הקמת המשכן, which is the second day of Nisan. Why wait a whole month till Rosh Chodesh Iyar? If this is anyway in connection to the הקמת המשכן, sure it should have been done as close to the הקמת המשכן as possible. So, or on Rosh Chodesh Nisan itself, or at least on ב' Nisan, why wait for Rosh Chodesh Iyar?

So bifshat we could answer, because we know that Rosh Chodesh is a special day. That seems that this is the reason why the, the Mishkan was put up on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, on Rosh Chodesh, and the pasuk in Parashat Pekudei stresses that this was באחד לחדש, on the first day of the month, because the first day of the month is a special day. Therefore Hashem' made it that the הקמת המשכן should be on the first day of the month. And as the Gemara says in שבת דף פ''ז עמוד ב', that אותו היום נטל עשר עטרות, that day took ten crowns, which means there was ten special things on that day, and one of the special things of that day was that this was the first day of the month. So we see that the first day of the month is a special day, and therefore special things are pushed off to the special day of the first day of the month. So now, just like הקמת המשכן took place on the first day of the month of Nisan, so Hashem', when he wanted them to be counted, and possibly it couldn't be done on that same day, so Hashem' pushed it off for the next first chance of the first day of the month. That's why he pushed it off for באחד לחדש השני. to the first day of the second month, so it should also be the first day of the month should be Rosh Chodesh. So if it can't be ראש חודש ניסן, let it be at least the next first day of the month, ראש חודש אייר. And if we're going to learn that pshat, this would explain why Rashi, the one we quoted before in the beginning of Parshat Bamidbar, says באחד בניסן הוקם המשכן ובאחד באייר מנאם, on the first day of Nisan the משכן was put up, and on the first day of Iyar he counted it. So Rashi again repeats the fact that it was the first day of the month by the הקמת המשכן, and this also took place on the first day of the month, to show that there is a comparison, a similarity between the two, the fact that they were both on the first day of the month, to show that the reason that they were counted on the first day of Iyar, not earlier, because Hashem pushed it off to the first day of the month, the specialty of Rosh Chodesh. But this is the simple answer.

There is also another explanation here, more מצד the ענין of דרוש and מוסר. We're talking here about the counting of the Bnei Yisrael. What is the ענין of counting? When you count things, they're all equal. When you're counting things, everyone is just counted as one, which means the greatest person is only counted as one, not more than one, and the lowest person is also counted as one. So the ענין of counting expresses the similarity, the equality of all people. When you count people, you show that they're all equal, they're all the same. Now we said that Rashi says that when Hashem counts the Bnei Yisrael, it shows the love that He has to the Bnei Yisrael. Now being that we said that the counting is something that is equal by all, so obviously the love that's expressed through the ענין of counting is a love that is concerning something which is equal by all the Bnei Yisrael. So obviously it doesn't affect the individuality of each person, the מעלות of each specific person, but it's connected to the נקודה, to this point, in which all the Yidden are equal. Because if counting would be connected to a love that Hashem shows to the Bnei Yisrael מצד their specific מעלות, the מעלות of each one that he has individually, then how could you say they're all counted equally? If one person has bigger מעלות, more מעלות, then he should be more. A person that has less מעלות should be less. Moshe Rabbeinu, for instance, should be counted as a lot. The simplest person should be counted as a half. And since we say they're all counted as one, and this counting expresses the love that Hashem has to them, obviously, it is not the love that Hashem has to them מצד their כוחות פרטיים, their individual abilities, their individual ענינים, but it's מצד the נקודה that they are all equal. Now what is that? So we know that there is one thing that all Yidden have the same, and that is what we would call in Yiddish the pintele Yid, or the נקודת היהדות, which is the עצם of the נשמה. There are things in which each person is different. Each one has his מעלות. That would be מצד what we would call the כוחות הגלויים, the revealed כוחות. מצד the כוח השכל, they're not all the same. One person's שכל is greater, he learns more Torah, understands more Torah, understands more greatness of Hashem, another person understands less. מצד the מידות, one person has more אהבת השם, has more love to Hashem, another person has less. One person has more אהבת ישראל, the other person has less. One person has more יראת השם, more fear of Hashem, one person has less. Even when it comes to action, to מעשה, so one person does more mitzvot, one person does less. In that, we cannot say that they're all equal. But in מצד the נקודה of the נשמה that each person has, and not the part of the נשמה which is connected to the שכל of the person, or to the מידות of the person, or to the מחשבה, דיבור ומעשה, the thought or speech or action of the person, but מצד this part of the נשמה which is essential, which is beyond all these כוחות הגלויים as we call them, all these revealed כוחות, מצד that they're all equal. Which means even the lowest of the lowest has that. Just that it's hidden, it's not revealed, but every single Yid has it. And as the Rambam says in the end of the second פרק of הלכות גירושין, that every single Yid wants to do the right thing. Now, he doesn't mean מצד his כוחות הגלויים. We see that not every single Yid wants to do the right thing, but he means is there is this עצם הנשמה, the essential part of the נשמה which is by every single Yid, and מצד that every person wants to do the right thing, but some people don't feel it, don't know about it. And as we see that when it comes to a point where his עצם הנשמה is in question, so then this reveals itself by every single Yid. As we see that even a קל שבקלים, the lowest of the lowest, if it comes to a question of עבודה זרה, of believing in other gods, in the ענין of שמד, of converting to other religions, so then even a קל שבקלים would give up his life and not be עובד עבודה זרה, not worship idols, not convert to other religions. Now we're talking about a person who is a קל שבקלים, which means that this person מצד his revealed part, מצד his action, מצד his thoughts, מצד his midot, doesn't have the connection to Hashem. But when it touched his עצם הנשמה, because עבודה זרה touches the עצם הנשמה, if a person would worship עבודה זרה, then he would show essentially how he's cutting himself off from Hashem, then even he would give up his life. Why? Because the עצם הנשמה is true and pure even by him. So when we say that Hashem counts the Bnei Yisrael, and by doing that, he expresses his love, it's in connection to the עצם הנשמה of the Yidden, not מצד their כוחות הגלויים. And what is the ענין of counting? The ענין of counting is to reveal this עצם הנשמה. As we said, the עצם הנשמה is there by every single Yid, but it's not always revealed. When Hashem counted the Bnei Yisrael, which means he touched, he affected the עצם הנשמה, and what happened? He affected that it should come out בגילוי, should be revealed. As Rashi says, in the beginning of Parashat Shemot, also concerning counting the Bnei Yisrael, he says that the purpose of counting is להודיע חיבתם. להודיע means to notify, to reveal their love, that this love that's there from Hashem to the Bnei Yisrael מצד the עצם הנשמה has to be revealed. And by counting, Hashem is מודיע חיבתם, he reveals it. Or as Rashi says in Parashat Ki Tisa, להודיע שהיא חביבה עליו. So this is the concept of revelation, revealing the essential part of the ייד נשמה that's there anyway, and by counting, when Hashem commands to count the Bnei Yisrael, this reveals this עצם הנשמה.

Now, this revelation that we're saying of the עצם הנשמה, that the עצם הנשמה that a Yid has should come out בגילוי, should be revealed, and that it should affect his actions, can be done in two ways. It can be done, as we would call it, as a גילוי מלמעלה, as an effect, a revelation that comes from above, or it could be a גילוי מלמטה that comes from below, which means as follows: it's possible that Hashem should reveal a certain revelation from מלמעלה, from above, that this should affect the person, and that will bring out the עצם הנשמה into the open. And that means that a person that בגילוי he is not the way he should be, even though his עצם הנשמה is, but בגילוי he is not, and what's happening is that the עצם הנשמה is being revealed, which means it's coming out into the open and affecting his כוחות הגלויים, that he should start thinking the right things, and he should start doing the right things, and feeling the right things. So this could be done מלמעלה, not as a result of the Avodah of the person. This could be done because Hashem מלמעלה, from above, for some reason, had pity on this person and affected him in such a way that his עצם הנשמה should come out. There could be a different way, and that is called a גילוי that comes מלמטה למעלה. When a person works on himself and does all kinds of Avodat Hashem, this brings about that his עצם הנשמה should be revealed. It is understood that the first way doesn't really last that long, because if the only reason his עצם הנשמה is בגילוי, which means his essence of his נשמה affects his כוחות הגלויים that he should start to act in the right way, being that it didn't come from within itself, but it came from above, so as long as the גילוי is there from above, it lasts. If the גילוי will go away, it won't last anymore. Similar to what we find, that when Hashem came down on Har Sinai, there was this great גילוי השכינה, and therefore there was a Din that no one was allowed to go up on the mountain, and if anybody would go up to the mountain, he would have died. And the reason was מפני אשר ירד עליו השם, because Hashem came down. Nevertheless, when the Shechinah left, then המה יעלו בהר, they were allowed to go up on the mountain. איי the Shechinah came down on the mountain, but since the Shechinah came down מלמעלה, it had no effect on the mountain. While it was there, it was there, but it's not a מציאות that the mountain itself was so absorbed with קדושה מצד itself that it always was there. When the Shechinah left, the mountain was not holy anymore. On the other hand, by the Beis Hamikdash the din is that after the Shechinah came to that place, the kedushah is there always. Even now when we have no Beis Hamikdash, the kedushah is still there. Why? Because the kedushah that's there in the Beis Hamikdash came מלמטה למעלה as it's explained in many sefarim, therefore the kedushah stayed. And the same is what we're saying here: if the גילוי of the עצם הנשמה into the outward, superficial כוחות of the person comes because of a גילוי מלמעלה, then it will only last as long as the גילוי lasts. When the גילוי goes away, it's possible that this will not be there anymore. But if the גילוי of the עצם הנשמה into the כוחות הגלויים comes מלמטה למעלה, which means that the person himself works and he brings it about, that means it comes from within the person itself, then this will last forever. Now, since we said that the ענין of counting the Bnei Yisrael is the concept of revealing the עצם הנשמה, so we find by the counting of the Bnei Yisrael the same two ענינים. First, the counting affected in a way it was a גילוי מלמעלה, and then there was a level of counting which affected the גילוי of the עצם הנשמה as a form מלמטה למעלה, from within the Yid itself. And And that's why the countings that took place before this one, before the one that took place on Rosh Chodesh Iyar, the one that took place at time of Yetzias Mitzrayim or after the חטא העגל, they were a counting that still was מלמעלה למטה, that Hashem counted them, He revealed His love, and this brought out within the Bnei Yisrael the גילוי of the עצם הנשמה and it affected them in a way that it changed their actions etcetera etcetera. But the counting that took place after the הקמת המשכן, what is the ענין of the הקמת המשכן? The הקמת המשכן was ושכנתי בתוכם, that Hashem dwells amongst the Yid. So after the הקמת המשכן, after Hashem dwelled within them, then they started working with themselves, and they reached a point where there was this revelation of the עצם הנשמה that affected the כוחות הגלויים. And this was the concept of the counting that took place after הקמת המשכן, a counting that was supposed to reveal the עצם הנשמה not only מצד a גילוי מלמעלה, but also affect the עצם הנשמה מצד their own elevating themselves to a higher madreigah. And that's the reason why it had to take a while, it couldn't be done on the same day of הקמת המשכן, it had to be done a while later so the Yidden would be able to utilize the Shechinah that went down on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, and then work with themselves with this Shechinah, with this גילוי השכינה, and elevate themselves to a higher madreigah.

And also this explains why it davka took place on Rosh Chodesh Iyar. Because the difference between the month of Nisan and the month of Iyar is, as it says in sefarim, that Nisan is the month of גילוי מלמעלה, the revelation from above. As it happened by יציאת מצרים that נגלה עליהם מלך מלכי המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא וגאלם. The Yidden themselves were in no way ready for any giluy, for any spiritual revelation, they were in the מ״ט שערי טומאה, but there was a revelation from above. And that's the month of Nisan. The month of Iyar, which is the month of Sefirat HaOmer, which is the second month, that's already the month that the Yidden counted the days, which means they elevated themselves, they worked with themselves to elevate themselves to a higher madreigah. So it says that Iyar represents the עבודה מלמטה למעלה, the עבודה of the Yidden, not so much the גילוי מלמעלה. And therefore this counting of the Bnei Yisrael, which was supposed to be the revelation of the עצם הנשמה into the כוחות הגלויים מצד the Yidden themselves, that's why this counting took place in Rosh Chodesh of the month of Iyar.